Folding guest rack



y 7, 1959 H. BUCHMAN FOLDING GUEST RACK Filed May 20, 1955 I N V EN TOR. #JRR) 8 009M441.

Arman/5M FOLDING GUEST RACK Harry Bushman, Detroit, Mich.

Application May 20, 1955, Serial No. 509,828

1 Claim. (Cl. 287-96) This invention relates to clothes racks, and more particularly to a folding guest rack construction.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a novel tubular and folding guest rack construction which is easy to open up and which, when collapsed, may be stored in a minimum amount of space.

It is the further object of this invention to provide a novel and simplified tubular and folding clothes rack construction with a novel method of pivotally mounting the opposite ends of the horizontal support to the upright members.

It is the further object of the present invention to provide at the lower ends of each of the upright supports a pair of angularly openable supports which lie in parallel upright planes at right angles to an upright plane passing through the horizontal support.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claim in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the present folding rack.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the upper right hand corner portion of said rack, illustrating the connection of the horizontal bar to the upright support, and upon an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of the lower portion of one of the upright supports illustrating the angularly openable support elements and their mounting upon the upright support.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the structure shown in Fig. 2 with the horizontal bar 13 and the upright support 12 pivoted into parallel collapsed relation.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating the collapsed relation of the support elements.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on line 6-6, Fig. 2, and upon an increased scale; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section on enlarged scale taken on line 77 of Fig. 5.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely a preferred embodiment of the invention and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claim hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing, the present rack includes a pair of upright tubular supports 11 and 12 which have pivotally mounted thereon adjacent their upper ends the horizontal tubular cross-bar in the manner hereafter described, the upper open ends of the supports 11 and 12 having inserted therein the closure caps or plugs 14.

Adjacent the upper ends of the supports 11 and 12, as illustrated in Fig. 2, there is provided an inwardly directed mounting bracket 15 which is substantially semicircular in cross-section as indicated at 17 in Fig. 6, and whose end face is circularly cut away in order to cooperatively engage an interior surface portion of support 12 adjacent its upper end. The said bracket is immovably secured in the position shown in Fig. 2 as by the welds 16.

The free end portions of brackets 15, as shown in ttes Patent 0 2,893,767 Patented July 7, 1959 Fig. 2 at 18, are undercut throughout portions of the side wall and bottom thereof to permit relative pivotal movement of bracket 15 with respect to horizontal crossbar 13, as indicated in Fig. 4, wherein the wall portion 21 of the said bracket at the base thereof operatively engages cross-bar 13 at right angles thereto.

Said horizontally disposed cross-bar 13 is interposed between supports 11 and 12 and loosely rests upon and within the brackets 15 in the manner shown in Fig. 6 and is pivotally connected with the end portions of each of the said brackets as by the transverse rivets 20.

Accordingly, the said brackets provide a suitable support for the free ends of the cross-bar 13 and at the same time provide such pivotal mounting as at points 20 as to permit folding of the supports 11 and 12 into parallel relation to the said cross-bar, as fragmentarily illustrated in Fig. 4. This thus permits for convenient storing of the folding clothes rack in a minimum amount of space.

A collapsible standard construction is provided at the lower ends of the supports 11 and 12 and which includes at the said lower ends of the supports the respective pairs of tubular legs 23 and 24 which have rubber feet 25 at their lower ends.

The said pairs of feet 23 and 24 lie in upright parallel planes at right angles to cross-bar 13 to thereby provide a sturdy support for the clothes rack as illustrated in Fig. l, and upon which a series of clothes hangers 30 may be mounted in a conventional manner.

The respective lower ends of the tubular supports 11 and 12 are partially flattened into substantially oval shape as indicated at 22, Fig. 7, to provide an effective pivotal mounting surface for the folding legs 23 and 24. Portions on the opposite sides of the said supports corresponding to inner and outer portions thereof are partially flattened as indicated in Fig. 7 and are adapted to cooperatively receive the bifurcated upper ends 28 and 29 of legs 23 and 24.

As indicated in the drawing, the said bifurcated portions which are formed in the said legs by cutting the same as at points 27 and bending out portions thereof, are arranged in opposed overlapping relation with respect to each other and engage around opposite sides of the flattened end portion 22 of the supports. The assembly is pivotally interconnected by the transverse rivet 26 whereby the said legs are fixedly yet pivotally mounted upon and extend below the lower ends of the respective supports 11 and 12.

The said legs 23 and 24 at their upper ends are so formed with the bifurcations 28 and 29 that when the said legs are angularly opened from the position shown in Fig. 5 to the position shown in Fig. 3, the upper edge portions 31 of the respective bifurcations operatively engages opposite wall portions of the respective supports to thereby limit the opening movements of the said legs. The corresponding wall portions of the said bifurcations 28 and 29 are similarly flattened, as indicated in Fig. 7, to provide for an efiicient surface contact with respect to each other and to the flattened opposed wall portions 22 at the lower end of the supports 11 and 12.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the claim which follows for determining the scope thereof.

I claim:

A hinge coupling comprising an upright tubular support, a pair of tubular downwardly diverging legs pivotally mounted at their upper ends upon the lower end of said support, said legs lying in the plane of said support, the lower end of said support being formed into substantially oval-shape with flat opposed sides, the respective upper ends of the legs being bifurcated in opposed overlapping relation with each other and engaging around opposite sides of the flattenedlower end of said support,

and means pivotally connecting the legs to each other and to the lower end of the support, engagement of the upper portions of the legs with opposite sides of the support limiting angular opening movements of said legs, said legs being collapsible into parallel engaging relation in alignment with said support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 4 Arnold July 18, 1899 Hill Sept. 26,1911 Kohn Nov. 14, 1911 Camper Apr. 26, 1927 Newman Mar. 13, 1928 Miller Dec. 25, 1928 Letts Apr. 29, 1930 McCurdy Mar. 31, 1931 Lorch Nov. 3, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Apr. 25, 1925 

